Saratoga Springs observance honors MLK with community service

SARATOGA SPRINGS >> Asking “Who is Martin Luther King, Jr.? Why is it important to remember him?”, volunteers celebrated Saratoga’s ninth annual Day of Community Service and Remembrance Monday by giving their work, donations and creativity to those in need.

“It’s important to remember Martin Luther King and not just take the day off,” said Day of Service committee member Carol Schupp-Star from Temple Sinai. “We need to come together and honor him.”

Among the projects to honor King were food-pantry donations, painting at the Shelters of Saratoga, repairs at the Senior Center and cleaning at the Economic Opportunity Council soup kitchen.

In the afternoon, a special program brought music, theater and discussion to the city library. Mayor Joanne Yepsen opened the program, with singer Garland Nelson and director Lezlie Dana participating.

Advertisement

Kids enjoyed community art projects in the library’s teen room. Sitting at a table covered in construction paper and crayons, Grace Usack, 11, showed her drawing of a cat and dog with beaming anime eyes. Her picture pets were destined to travel to the Philippines to help cheer children affected by the recent typhoon .

“Everyone should get involved,” Usack said. “Kids like animals, so I’m drawing a dog and a cat to make the kids feel better.”

At the next table, other children made paper beads to send to Tanzania, where the beads are made into jewelry. The funds raised provide families there with water. The Bezos Family Foundation matched each bead and drawing with a monetary donation.

Over at the Shelters of Saratoga, house manager Bonnie Potter had 45 volunteers and a long to-do list to keep volunteers busy. Workers painted the inside of the house, reorganized closets, reorganized food shelves, sorted laundry and cleaned out the attic. Groups of kids ran up and down the stairs, carrying boxes of food and armfuls of donated clothes.

Potter said the day was chaotic, but wonderfully so. She appreciated having help with her biggest projects.

“You have paint in your hair,” John Villarosa, 14, told his friend Aiden Brady, 12, who brushed it out, laughing. They had been working on the inside of the house and having a fun time helping people, they said. “I’m also getting hungry,” added John, sensibly conserving his strength as he awaited lunch on a paint-free stool.

Holly Hammond, Deirdre Ladd and Joe Kulin, other members of the Day of Service committee, coordinated projects and volunteers from their home base in the library’s community room. Around the walls of the space, art created by young Sunday school students from the Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church included colored doves and homemade collages with tissue paper.

Older kids displayed King quotations such as: “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”

Ladd, who is also involved with Saratogians for Gun Safety and with Peace Week, included her children in the day’s work. Despite a broken arm and thumb, her son Patrick, 14, joined her in the library.

“I think she’s really helping the community,” he said. “This is a great thing.”

Ladd said, “When my kids ask why I’m doing this, I want to explain that it’s not enough to be against violence — you have to be for peace.”